Nicola Formichetti's GIF countdown begins with the Russian model, muse and meme-maker's rework of the Nicopanda

When we first started working with Nicola on his takeover, he emailed about five incredible GIF designers from Moscow to Osaka. We thought it would be fun to ask these Tumblrers to make an animation from Nicola's panda illustration, the object at the heart of Nicola's new concept fashion line Nicopanda.

The first to exhibit is German Lavrovskiy, a Moscow-based 17-year-old model, stylist and self-described kid-with-a-blog. Take a look at his wonderful work above, and read his answers below.

Tell me about the panda GIF you made.

I totally love the idea of "Panda Nation". It's cool to see famous people like Gaga or Rico as panda creatures.

Tell me about your practice and style.

Frankly speaking, I was self-taught – looking through training videos for Photoshop or YouTube, basically. I hope in the future to get serious education abroad, [but] mostly I make pictures with people I adore and inspire me, so it's like a homemade cake – full of LOVE!

What do you do when you’re not making GIFs?

I am kinda starting in fashion in a few ways. I produce sweatshirts with my prints, and I am really into styling. But that's not enough for me! God gave me not only talent but also beauty, [so] sometimes I work as a model.

How did you start making GIFs?

Every kid has a blog, so do I. At first, I had no idea what to write, so started making moodboards from cool pictures on the internet. So that's how I started.

What’s your all time favourite GIF and GIF designer?

I LOVE works of Marco Brambilla! They are very professional, full of details and imagination. I wish i would work on such level in future!

Recent months have seen a return of the GIF as an item of popular discourse and funny thing to drop into an email. What do you put down to this?

I think all these pictures and memes are part of the internet and our generation. They can be seen in fashion, politics and humor, they contain information, and it's cool to open new ways of communication!